our culpa

AC Breaking

UPDATE: We were clearly dead wrong about San Diego losing their AC bid. It was in fact Chicago that went down. Our apologies for getting it wrong, and y’all can read the full press release here; it says that San Diego and Bermuda remain as the possible targets for Coutts and Ellison’s “goal of hosting an exciting and successful America’s Cup built on a strong commercial foundation.” We’ll leave the text below as a lesson to ourselves…

Rest assured, San Diegans: You won’t have to deal with any America’s Cup crowds in 2017! Or is it?

With Anarchists reporting Russell Coutts traipsing around Navy Pier last weekend and an independent confirmation from Vsail’s Pierre O, we can safely report that San Diego looks to be knocked out of the running to host the next America’s Cup, and we expect a press release on Wednesday announcing just that.

Remaining will be Bermuda and Chicago, though we are nearly certain that Coutts is only keeping Bermuda on the hook as a negotiating tool. At the end of the day, the months of national and international outrage that will erupt if Coutts and Ellison carpetbag the Cup offshore will make Kingpost-gate look like a Sunday cartoon, creating the kind of unpredictable obstacle that can be near-impossible to overcome. In other words, if Coutts wants to guarantee his vision fails and his wallet swells, he will choose Bermuda. If he wants a remote chance at commercial success, longevity, and a positive impact for sailing, Chicago’s the only place left.